About this Event
My America is a revelatory portrait of beloved American artist, poet, and playwright Langston Hughes and how his life experiences influenced his work related to democracy, activism, and the fight for joy. From author, professor, and documentary producer Randal M. Jelks.
Best known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance, the celebrated poet and writer Langston Hughes believed in the power of art as resistance. What can we learn from his works today?
Randal M. Jelks delivers this revelatory portrait of the celebrated poet, essayist, playwright, and American artist Langston Hughes. My America traces Hughes's journey from a child captivated by the wonder of Kansas City to cosmopolitan witness in Paris, New York, Mexico City, and Madrid. We encounter Hughes as a young man discovering the pulse of modern life in a world on the verge of exploding metaphorically and literally. His experiences informed his work and his thinking on art, democracy, and activism.
Langston Hughes is one of the few American writers who consistently wrote about democracy from a joyous perspective, and My America explores how his works speak to the political anxieties and crises we face today. Jelks deftly examines the themes in Hughes's work, including creative expression, communal dignity, class struggle, and human suffering and what they mean for our inner well-being as democratic persons and political participants.
With care and no-holds-barred insight, My America removes the veneer of respectability often placed on Hughes's work and life to reveal his political adeptness. In a world threatened by fascism, Hughes's writing wasn't afforded the luxury of subtlety. He made a spiritual and political decision to stand on the side of the oppressed. He believed art should be practiced for the sake of justice. And democracy can be practiced with joy.
Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist was also an important and controversial Black voice on politics, both American and international. Jelks pulls together Langston's evolving views with rich excerpts from Hughes' writings followed by extensive commentary providing context.
As Jelks writes, "Langston lived during a time of rising fascism and intolerant evangelicalism where he was persistently harassed because of his artistic perspectives on democracy. He repeatedly faced attempts to "cancel" him. Amazingly, he persisted for forty-six years leaving us a rich body of writing to think about what democracy means and what it engenders through columns, commentaries, essays, fiction, librettos, plays and always poetry. "
Jelks has won several awards for his previous books: Kansas Notable Book Award for Faith and Struggle, Lillian Smith Book Award (BCALA) for Benjamin Elijah Mays, and State History Award, Michigan Historical Society for African Americans in the Furniture City.
Randal will be in conversation with Kelly Harris-DeBerry
Randal Maurice Jelks, PhD, is a professor, documentary producer, and the author of four books, including Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement: A Biography and Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America, which received [NAME OF AWARD]. Jelks' writings have appeared in the Boston Review, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, and he is co-editor of the academic journal American Studies.Born in New Orleans, Jelks is a descendant of the Georgetown 272—enslaved persons sold to pay off Georgetown University's debts. His Louisiana lineage traces back to the 1830s and 1840s through enslaved ancestors from Maryland and Virginia. Professor Jelks is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BA in History), McCormick Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity), and Michigan State University (PhD in Comparative Black Histories)
Kelly Harris-DeBerry is a poet, freelance writer and independent scholar. Her work spans from poetry to essays to non-profit consulting. She holds a BA in Communications from Kent State University and MFA in Creative Writing/Arts Therapy from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She is the author of Freedom Knows My Name and the chapbook, HomeGirl. Her work has been published in various journals and media platforms. Her poem, Post-Katrina Blues, has been translated and on display in Germany. The Cave Canem Fellow has worked as an advisor to the Smithsonian’s literary mapping project and mentor for Literary Cleveland's BreakThrough Residency. Her forthcoming book, Where the Fire Started: Black Activism in Writing in Louisiana will be published in late 2026. kellyhd.com
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
1030 Elysian Fields Ave, 1030 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 35.64
